I’m Harvey, the Social Secretary of Reading University Caving Club. This year, 2018, marks the fiftieth anniversary of the club’s establishment, and to commemorate the occasion, I’m currently compiling a compendium of memories and experiences from former members, in an attempt to cobble together a piece of writing on the club’s history!

If you’re a previous member and have any anecdotes or recollections about absolutely anything from your time with RUCC, be it a memorable trip, an expedition or even entertaining social shenanigans on night and days out or weekends away, I’d love to hear from you! Feel free to message me on the forum, or email me at Harvey.connolly@live.co.uk

For me personally, RUCC has offered the opportunity not only to experience something unique during my time as a student and served as a gateway into the world of underground exploration, but has also given me the chance to meet a wonderful collection of similarly minded people; I’d love to write an anniversary piece which gives our current members an insight into where the club has come from and all the similar experiences past cavers have had, at a time when we’re also looking forward to the future and planning where we’ll be going next!

I was an active member of RUCC between 1995 and 2000. Highlights off the top of my head were using a pneumatic drill in the TSG at 1am, seeing how many cavers you could get in a working chest freezer, spinning the uni minibus on the austrian autobahn en route to caving in Romania, getting the SWCC members p*ssed on industrial alcohol we bought back from Slovenia and drawing on their faces with permanent marker. And there was the near death experience in Ingleton - abseiling off the viaduct into Mrs Morphets caravans after the pub and narrowly missing the powerlines which run along side the viaduct but a bit lower......Fun times - I'll go back to my log books and see what I can find about the actual caving,CheersAndy